


To Bid My Love Good Morrow

by Allison_Wonderland



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 17:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12347589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allison_Wonderland/pseuds/Allison_Wonderland
Summary: Repost of 2016 Phicathon fic.A fireside conversation that proves to be worth the trip.





	To Bid My Love Good Morrow

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry, I don't know who this fic was originally for but I'm going to dedicate it to all you lovely people in this fandom in the hopes that the works we lost will be restored.

Prompt: Jack shows up in London; Phryne's not there, but Margaret Fisher is.

Summary: A fireside conversation that proves to be worth the trip.

Notes: Title taken from Charles Mackay’s Love’s Good Morrow

 

The response to his ringing the bell was a swiftly opened door and a resounding “Yes?” from the rather impervious looking butler, clad oh so correctly in a impeccable morning suit. Jack felt slightly self-conscious of his wrinkled trousers and home knit sweater vest.

“May I help you sir?”

“Inspector Jack Robinson for the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher.” Jack proffered one of his cards. “I believe she should be expecting me?” Rather, he hoped.

“One moment please.” The butler took his card and closed the door. Jack was left cooling his heels on the front steps, trying desperately to look less anxious than he felt. He didn’t think he was succeeding. But the door reopened a moment later.

“This way, Sir.” He was ushered into the foyer and down a slight hallway before stepping over a threshold. “Inspector Robinson, Ma’am.”

“Thank you Millson. And send in a tea tray, please.”

The voice that greeted him wasn’t Phryne’s and he faltered for just a moment. Instead of the fiery Miss Fisher, a cool, fashionably dressed blonde greeted him as she rose from a chair by the fire. Even without a proper introduction, he knew immediately that this was Phryne’s mother. From the picture he had seen, she looked much like Janey. But, she had Phryne’s eyes. They wrinkled slightly at the corners as she smiled at him and he couldn't help but to like her immediately.

“Please, come in Inspector. I’m Margaret Fisher. Phryne is out at the moment but I’ve heard so much about you from her and Henry, I do feel like I know you!” She extended a welcoming hand to him that he shook, gestured him to the chair across from her, and settled back in her own.

“Now Inspector, whatever are you doing so far from home? I could scarcely believe my eyes when I received your card!”  
Jack felt just the slightest bit uncomfortable and slid two fingers under his collar to loosen his tie.  
“I’m here because she asked me to be.”  
“Oh!” She sounded surprised but turned a smile on him that was pure Phryne. “I’m glad she did.”

Before she could say anything else, they were interrupted by the tea. A maid placed the tray on a low table in front of Margaret then withdrew.  
“How do you take it?”

“Plain, thank you.” She handed him a delicate china cup and a plate laden with petit fours and sandwiches. He sheepishly knew his eyes brightened at the sight. The food on the ship was decent but monotonous.

“I’m glad she did.” Margaret repeated herself. “Phryne has been so solitary for so long but since she’s returned, I’ve heard so many stories about the friends she’s made in Melbourne. Mostly about you.” She said slyly, hiding a smile behind her teacup. He tried not to choke on his sandwich. “Not many men would be willing to let a woman interfere in their work.”

“Phryne doesn’t interfere.” He was quick to defend. “She assists. And I’m certainly man enough to admit that there are many cases that I would have not been able to solve as swiftly or as easily without her.”

“I didn’t mean it like that” Margaret soothed. “I know my daughter, she tends to act first and think after. Not many people are as tolerant of her unique personality and way of handling things. She’s been happier since she’s returned.” She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “Do you know why Phryne went back to Melbourne?”

“Murdoch Foyle.” Jack couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice. He would never forget the amount of pain and heartache that evil bastard had caused.

“Yes. Phryne always blamed herself for that monster. I never knew until later years, but how a child thought she could have stopped pure evil, I don’t know. When we got the letter that he would possibly be paroled, Phryne was nearly inconsolable. She went on such a tear and before anyone knew it, she had packed up and boarded a steamer. She wrote to us when it was finished. I know I have you to thank for some of that. And now, I have to thank for more than that. She’s so much lighter. She smiles more. She’s been here how long and she’s only snapped at Henry once! For years, she couldn’t stand being in the same room as him. She’s finally settled.”

Jack couldn’t help but snort a bit at that. He could never picture Phryne settled. Margaret caught the look on his face and laughed a bit too.

“I know, she’s so gregarious. I don’t mean settled like becoming temperate and taking up knitting. But she’s more at peace now. Even in the short period of time she’s been here I’ve noticed. I don’t have to worry that one wrong move will send her off fleeing to god knows where.”

Margaret refilled his cup and added more to his plate. Jack hadn’t realized just how hungry he was. Thank goodness for Fisher women who seemed happy to feed him.

“Now Inspector, while she tends to go on about you and her household, Phryne told me only the barest smatterings on how you met and your cases. And I know she left out the best parts as she is wont to do with anything she tells me. I want to hear your tale.”

After a small pause, he told her. He couldn’t stop himself; in this soft chair, in front of a warm fire, he felt nearly as much at home with her as he did Phryne. And so he went on, how she intruded in that first crime scene and the subsequent aftermath, leaving out only about finding her half naked in a Turkish bathhouse. (Something that perhaps a mother would not care to learn about her daughter.) About the Ballarat train and Jane, about their unfortunate victims, expounding on the stories she would find interesting, skipping over the ones that would worry her. Margaret was a captive audience and over the course of hours, they moved from tea to whiskey (much like her daughter) and from stilted formality to a first name basis, raucously laughing at the more bizarre incidents they had experienced. He was in the midst of the story of the spider in the jar when the front door slammed and Phryne appeared in the parlor threshold almost immediately after, the whirlwind he missed so much.

“Mother, you will not believe who…” she trailed off. She spotted him rising to his feet, half in shadow from the flames. She stood there just a moment, then on a whispered “Jack…” she launched herself into his arms, opened at just the right moment to receive her momentous welcome. 

He held her as close as he dared, then just a bit tighter for good measure. There was dampness at his collar where she buried her face and could not swear that there weren't tears running down his face too. Their lips met in a gentle kiss, a kiss of love rather than lust, each one losing themselves in the other until…

“Ahem.”

They sprang apart. Impossibly thrilled to see each other, they had forgotten about Margaret. Who was standing behind them wearing a rather bemused expression.

“While I do understand your urgent need to become reacquainted, I’d rather it didn’t occur in front of me.”

Jack flushed while Phryne grinned unabashedly, grabbed Jack’s hand, and headed for the door.

“Becoming reacquainted sounds like a marvelous idea to me!”

***  
Jack woke the next morning to the delicious presence at his side stretching then nuzzling into chest.  
“Good morning.” He rumbled.  
Phryne turned just slightly towards him with a warm smile.  
“It certainly is.”


End file.
